The jury is still out.

A five-member jury of the International Sailing Federation said Wednesday it will announce a decision Thursday on a protest by two teams in the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series over new rules regarding rudder wings.

The decision will be posted at 11 a.m. on the Cup’s website, americascup.com

Because the jury has been deliberating the matter since Monday morning, it’s apparent that the panel has been deeply divided. Even before formally convening, the jurors had been trying to resolve the issue in mediation last week.

The jury consists of chairman David Tillett of Australia, Graham McKenzie of New Zealand, Bryan Willis of Malaysia, John Doerr of Great Britain and Josje Hofland of the Netherlands.

The announcement is expected to come a little over an hour before Luna Rossa is expected to make its first appearance of the regatta. The Italian team has said it won’t sail until the jury rules.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s Artemis Racing, the scheduled opponent, is still trying to put its boat together after a tragic wreck in May.

After a pair of solo sails by Team New Zealand, the first genuine race of the challenger series won’t come until Saturday, when Luna Rossa meets the Kiwis.

Regatta director Iain Murray had made wider, heavier rudder wings part of the new safety rules he issued May 22, two weeks after Sweden’s Artemis Racing capsized, killing British sailor Andrew “Bart” Simpson.

Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa both protested that edict on the grounds that it was a change in the class rules that required unanimous consent by the teams. They contend the change wouldn’t make the boats safer and could give Oracle Team USA a competitive advantage because of the special design of its two boats.

Murray said last week that if the jury upheld the protests he would inform the Coast Guard he doesn’t think the racing would be safe. The Coast Guard has issued a permit for the regatta but could revoke it if the regatta director deemed the racing unsafe. The regatta could not go on without a permit.

Artemis Racing CEO Paul Cayard has said that if the jury adopted the position on rudder wings that Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand advocated, Artemis would have to drop out of the competition. It would take too long to reconfigure the boat to accommodate such a change, he said.

While the jury was deliberating, America’s Cup and Louis Vuitton officials denied a report that the French retailer, the primary sponsor of the challenger series, wants a lot of its money back.

A New Zealand newspaper reported that Louis Vuitton wants $3 million refunded because only three teams entered the competition for the chance to take on defending champion Oracle Team USA.

“We are not asking for anything back,” Louis Vuitton Cup director Christine Delangersaid. “But I’m not going to discuss our contracts.”

The New Zealand Herald reported that Bruno Trouble, whom it identified as the company’s ambassador to the America’s Cup, was “not happy” with the challenger series so far.

Trouble, a former America’s Cup sailor for France, was upset that the opening day of the regatta was overshadowed by Luna Rossa’s decision not to race until its protest of the rules change was resolved. Louis Vuitton’s initial sponsorship was for $10 million, the paper said.

The company’s contract was based on at least eight teams taking part in the Louis Vuitton Cup, according to the newspaper.

America’s Cup CEO Stephen Barclay said he wouldn’t go into detail on his organization’s contracts with sponsors but said the report was “factually incorrect.”